Recent advances and developments in packet networks, consumer premises equipment, network servers, and client software provide a synergistic environment for the development of new communication modes and complexities. Packet networks, including private intranets and the Internet, are becoming ubiquitous features of the public and private telecommunications infrastructures. Client premise equipment (CPE) includes such disparate device types as personal computers, cable modems, screen phones and personnel digital assistants, which singly and collectively enable a richer and more robust user interaction and interface via screens, input devices, and multimedia capabilities. Such CPE devices can also include telephones, facsimile (fax) machines, answering machines, paging devices, and the like, which have become an integral part of both business and domestic environments. While offering tremendous convenience and facilitating interpersonal contact and information exchange, these devices can also serve as a source of aggravation and annoyance.
A variety of caller identification, call screening and call blocking devices and/or services are offered or have been contemplated. Caller ID is a well-known service for caller identification, screening and/or blocking. Caller ID is a service provided by a telephone service provider that provides a user with information regarding an incoming call. Typically, a display associated with a user's telephone, either integrated into the telephone or as part of an adjunct box coupled to the telephone, will display the telephone number and/or name associated with an incoming call. In Type I Caller ID, which occurs when the user's telephone is generally in an on-hook state (i.e., the user is not already engaged in a telephone call while the incoming call is arriving), the Caller ID data is generally provided by a central office of the service provider as frequency shift keying (FSK) data between the first and second rings. The user, after the first ring, can thus look at the display to decide, based on the displayed information, whether to answer an incoming telephone call.
In Type II Caller ID, also known as Caller ID with Call Waiting (CID/CW), the user's telephone is in an off-hook state (i.e., already engaged in a telephone call while the incoming call is arriving). In addition to the familiar audible tone, known as a Subscriber Alert Signal (“SAS tone”), that alerts a user to an incoming call waiting telephone call, the central office provides a Caller ID Alert Signal (“CAS tone”) to inform the user's telephone equipment that Caller ID data is about to be transmitted, pending receipt of an acknowledgment from the user's telephone equipment. Based on the CAS tone, the user's telephone briefly mutes its transducers (i.e., microphone and speaker) so that the FSK data is not heard by the user or corrupted by the user's speech. The muting period is sufficiently brief that it does not appreciably disrupt the voice communication between the parties to the conversation. The user, after hearing the SAS tone, can then view the display to determine whether to flash-hook over to the incoming call and temporarily place the existing call into a hold status.
The flash-hook operation (i.e., also known as a “flash line” operation) can be generally accomplished by briefly pressing or activating a switch-hook button, which can be normally in a first position, such as down, when the telephone is on-hook, and in a second position, such as up, when the telephone is off-hook, to alert the central office to the desire to switch to the incoming call. In general, when a telephone is equipped to receive Type II Caller ID data, a user who elects to flash-hook to an incoming call, based, for example, on viewing the Caller ID data associated with the incoming call, may subsequently decide to switch back to the original call and temporarily place the newer call in a hold status, and can do so by again activating the switch-hook. The user can switch back and forth between the two calls as often as desired.
Based on the foregoing, it can be appreciated that present CPE and Caller ID services provide fixed information based on the caller identity. Such devices, methods and systems thereof are limited, however, because they do not permit the dynamic transfer of information from a calling party to a called party. Such services do not offer real-time messaging capabilities in an effective manner to increase the accuracy and timeliness of critical information, particular in business environments. The present inventors have thus concluded that a need exists for an improved method and system, which will permit the dynamic transfer of information from calling parties to called parties.